Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović (1st Fight)

This is a badass fight between two badasses. Two legends of MMA both in their prime. Wanderlei Silva was Pride middleweight champion (205lbs) and already earned his “Mr. Pride” reputation by this time. Mirko Cro Cop was a big star in K-1 kickboxing and was just making the transition to MMA at this time (K-1 was huge in Japan and it is just stand up fighting. Guys who fight in K-1 take huge shots to the head almost every fight. If you can knock someone out in K-1, then you are a special striker, and Cro Cop was doing that.) Cro Cop got his nickname because he is in the anti-terrorist special police forces in Croatia.. He just all around seems like a killer. This was only Cro Cop’s fourth MMA fight. The fight would be fought under normal Pride rules except for three special rules being if the fight is on the ground and goes to the ropes the fighters are restarted at stand-up; it will be five 3-minute rounds instead of the normal Pride rounds; and if the fight goes the distance it is an automatic draw, there are no judges (that’s lame!). This was something K-1 negotiated in Cro Cop’s contract to make him feel more comfortable transitioning to MMA from K-1 (also to not make K-1 look bad). MMA was still fairly new at this time so this type of stuff still happened. It does suck and gives Cro Cop the advantage. This is still a very good fight though. Better than the 2nd fight between these two. The fight took place at Pride 20 in front of a sold out crowd of 18,926. Wanderlei Silva has a great quote during his interview before the fight: “My strategy? It’s a street fight, that’s all.” Under Pride fighting rules, you can get away with saying this (not like UFC’s watered down rules.) Silva bulked up for this fight and there is about a 7 lb weight difference between the two, Cro Cop at 222 lbs and Silva at 215. Intro/Staredown: Both guys look pretty scary. The crowd is clearly in favor of Wanderlei when they announce the fighters’ names. During the stare down both guys stare at each other with murderous intent. These guys want to hurt each other. This is one of the most intense stare downs I’ve ever seen. Neither guy is backing down; they do not break eye contact once. Silva is doing his axe murderer bouncing-around thing, and Cro Cop is just ice cold with a look of murder. You can feel the tension in this.. oh my. There’s no touching gloves here.The Fight: The fight begins and they circle. Wanderlei tries a weak and awkward low kick that misses by a mile and Cro Cop very seriously taunts him on the whiff. Silva then throws a sharp high kick that Cro Cop blocks nicely. Moments later Cro Cop throws a powerful left high kick that is blocked. It looked like a bomb and the crowd is loud. They get some distance and Cro Cop throws a huge left kick to the body that makes a loud smack against Silva’s stomach. That looked and sounded painful. We’re going to see a lot more kicks to the body later on in this fight… This would be one of the themes of the fight. Cro Cop has a huge left kick and he throws it either to the head or body. It is hard to tell if he will go high or mid with the kick. Silva usually chooses to block high, and because of that, he absorbs some massive body shots from that left kick. But if Silva didn’t block high, he is risking taking a KO kick to the head. So it is kind of like “pick your poison”, which do you want to block? Any time Silva gets stunned in general, he immediately goes on the offensive. After taking that body kick, Silva throws a couple of looping punches, gets in the clinch, and then takes Cro Cop down. Silva has a distinct advantage on the ground because that is where Cro Cop is the least experienced. Silva quickly gets back up while Cro Cop is still down and he goes for two slashing soccer kicks. They both miss but it looks violent. That was part of Silva’s strategy, to take Cro Cop down and then stand up before he does and soccer kick him in the face (illegal in UFC). This is a good strategy in any real fight. The crowd is loud and wild during this fight. It’s interesting to hear. Silva is back on top of Cro Cop but they go near the ropes and the fighters are restarted in standup due to the special rules. Back in the standup Silva throws a couple of his looping punches and one of them connects. Those punches are hard to block because it is a unique punching style. I think Silva just naturally punches like that and that makes him a better fighter. For most people who try to punch like that, it is awkward to generate a lot of power. The fighters are briefly in the clinch and Silva throws a knee to the body. Wanderlei is winning this fight right now. The bell rings ending the 1st round. Good round. 2nd Round. Cro Cop comes out more aggressive and throws a low kick and Silva counters with a left punch that causes more damage. They scramble and Silva falls on his back. Cro Cop does not want the fight to go to the ground. He waves for Silva to stand up and yells something like “c’mon get up!” Cro Cop wants to be in standup because he knows he can end the fight with one kick. They circle for a time then Cro Cop lands another big left body kick. It looked like it got Silva in the liver and you can see in his eyes it hurt him (getting hit in the liver is very painful for anybody). Silva does not want to gamble trying to block low so he has to absorb those body kicks. You will see later the effects of those body kicks… This is good strategy by Cro Cop. Cro Cop tries another body kick and Silva catches it and takes Cro Cop down. Silva is on top and puts his forearm right on Cro Cop’s throat. You will not make a guy tap out from this, but it is extremely uncomfortable if someone does it to you. Wanderlei lands 9 punches from the top and the crowd cheers for each one. What an attentive crowd. Cro Cop is taking a lot of medium power punches, but he is nowhere close to being knocked out. The bell rings ending the round. Wanderlei clearly won that round. 3rd Round. The fighters circle and feel each other out. Silva throws another quick high kick that Cro Cop blocks. I’m impressed with Silva’s kicking ability. Cro Cop answers with his own high kick that Silva blocks. Silva does his charging looping punches and one of them connects. Silva is fearless when rushing forward. They circle again and Cro Cop tries a swooping high kick that misses. There is a lot of watching and circling, waiting for the other to make a mistake. Cro Cop tries a knee to the body and Silva counters with a big right hand that lands. The biggest punch of the fight so far. Silva has been showing near automatic reflexes in countering all of Cro Cops shots. After some time the bells rings ending the round. Have to give the round to Silva again. 4th Round. The fighters circle. Cro Cop has a different look on his face now. He throws a huge left high kick that is blocked. Then after a moment throws a hard left body kick that lands. It was the biggest body kick yet and another liver shot. Silva smiles after that one which means it hurt him. Silva answers with a one-two punch combo and the first one tags Cro Cop. Cro Cop throws another hard kick to the body on the same spot. It looks so painful to even watch. You can end a fight with kicks to the body like that. There is a huge mark on Wanderlei’s side from those body kicks. If you look closely, you can actually see Cro Cop’sfootprinton Wanderlei’s side! Oh my god… That is going to swell up big time the next day. Silva doesn’t look out of it though and he tries a high kick and a couple punches and gets in the clinch. He pushes Cro Cop into the corner. Cro Cop briefly grabs the ropes and some people in the crowd and the announcer complain about it. No foul called. That happens from time to time. The ref puts the fighters back in standup and they circle until the end of the round. Cro Cop won this round because of those huge body kicks. In between the rounds they show the massive bruise on Wanderlei’s side. You can see Cro Cop’s toe impressions in the bruise. I’m surprised Silva did not have a broken rib and it doesn’t look like its broken by the way he’s acting. He would be in way more pain if it was. 5th and Final Round. Cro Cop throws another left high kick and it is blocked. He has not connected on any high kicks this fight. Silva has made sure to always block high when he sees a kick coming. Silva tries a right body kick that is partially blocked. They both throw some punches that miss and get in the clinch. They break into standup and Cro Cop throws another left body kick that lands. But this time Silva catches the leg after the impact and takes Cro Cop down. This was a dramatic takedown and the crowd goes wild. They are close to the ropes and the ref quickly stands them up though. The crowd doesn’t like that rule either. With one minute left in the fight, both fighters start to press. Cro Cop tries a big left punch that partially lands and then attempts a head and arm throw (a classic wrestling move) but Wanderlei is able to break off and throw a couple scrappy punches. Wanderlei leans in and attempts a high kick that is blocked and then gets the clinch. Silva tries to get a takedown but Cro Cop sprawls. They get back to the standup and Cro Cop lands another left body kick. No normal man can take that many body kicks in the same spot and still be standing. Cro Cop is not going to win this fight but he inflicted major damage on Silva with those body kicks. The bell rings ending the fight. The two fighters make friendly and honorable gestures to each other and walk back to their corners. Wanderlei Silva won this fight. But since it was under special rules with no judges, the fight was officially ruled a draw. For history’s sake it truly was a victory for Silva though. This fight really made Wanderlei a complete fighter and he would not lose a fight for another three and a half years; just tearing through opponents during that time. There should be no shame from Cro Cop. He fought well. He was new to MMA and took on one of the top 2 best fighters in the world at this time and held his own. It was basically the first time he ever had to fight on the ground in his professional career, having a kickboxing background. Cro Cop was a quick learner in MMA though and quickly established himself as a major force to be reckoned with in Pride. Both fighters fought courageously and with skill. It really was a fight between two badasses, two physically dangerous men. The fighters shake hands again and the ref raises both of their arms. They act honorably after the fight. What a great fight! I have massive amounts of respect for both fighters. They both went on to become legends in MMA. They are among the greatest MMA fighters ever. Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop Filipović, thank you for fighting in Pride.